Job 2:9-10
“[Job’s] wife said to him, ‘Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!’ He replied, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
Luke 23:39-43
“One of the criminals who hang there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’”
1 Peter 2:23-24
“When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
Loving Saviour, you plunge your holy arm deep into the tragedies of this tainted world.
We are often blinded by hurt and lash out with a curse. Yet whether our suffering is just or unjust, you remain on the cross next to us and endure the same pain.
At the moment of choice, may we humbly accept an illogical sorrow as you did, knowing you will not abandon us. Transform our distress into paradise by your presence.
Through Christ’s healing name we pray, who bore our insults even as he took the curse of death in our place.
Listen to ‘Beneath the Cross of Jesus’ featuring Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb
